Going Alone

One thing I get a lot of lately is the question, "how does one become self-employed?" Usually this little question is followed by a gulp of air and a really long explanation, which I try to keep as condensed as possible. I thought maybe if I tried to condense it enough to fit into a short blog article, it might help me to verbalize it even better the next time.

By no means am I an expert in this area. Nor am I intersted in being a career coach of any kind. However, my stubbornness in getting where I wanted to be seems to have paid off, so I'll try to pass what I've learned along. Maybe someone else can benefit from it, huh?

The first thing I did was decide that this was for sure what I wanted to do. Not just getting to say, "I'm self-employed," is good enough motivation to get through the process. I had to make sure I really wanted to have my hands in every single part of the business. Finances (which I hate dealing with, by the way), legalities, design, customer relations, sales, etc. Pretty much I had to make sure I could deal with the good and the bad parts of being a start-up business owner.

Being certain that this is what I wanted, I chose my business set-up. Partner(s) or no partner(s)? LLC or LLP? Hmmm... that's where the research comes in. Knowing the ups and downs of each business type is definitly a requirement before choosing the model that works best for you.

At this point, I went online to the state of Wisconsin website and started looking at all the forms that were required for me to register my company, company name, registered agents, and all that other good stuff. I had to get set up with both the state and federal governemnt to be recognzied as a company. Luckily, the state's website was an awesome tour guide so that was pretty simple.

I picked my name, filled out all the paperwork and had the dirty stuff over and done with (for now). The next part was gaining a client base. I joined networking groups, such as my local Chamber of Commerce and a local professional women's network. There, I started attending every meeting and forced myself to speak up and make my presence known. People began to take notice of me and they began asking for my help. Referrals starting coming in, my old clients were happy and they kept returning, and it evolved from there.

Now, I have to stay on top of all the updates in taxes and state and federal business laws all the time. I constantly have to be on the lookout for anything that has to do with my business, in a legal sense. I'm busy tending to my clients as well to ensure their happiness. Happy clients equals more clients.

That's my business story in a nutshell. If you have any questions, by all means, drop me a line. I'll try to point you in the direction of a few resources that helped me a lot. A lot of work goes into setting your business up but I can't even begin to tell you how great it's worked out. I think it's completely worth the effort.